MANITOWOC – Two hours — the amount of time it takes to mow a lawn, bake a cake or change a life.

The latter is what happens at New Friends, an organization that for two hours every month brings together individuals with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) and high school students. Created almost four years ago, New Friends’ purpose is as simple as its name: to make new friends.

“Parents will come up to me and say how much hanging out with their child for two hours changes their kid’s life,” said Caitlin Doro, a senior at Manitowoc Lutheran High School who began volunteering for the program as a freshman.

Throughout the school year, the group rotates meeting at Manitowoc’s YMCA and at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Newtonburg. Friends can swim, play basketball, color, do crafts or play video games. During the summer months, meetings are more like field trips.

Last month, a Valders couple invited the group to their house on Pigeon Lake for an afternoon of swimming and canoeing.

One mother, Melissa Stock, watched her son, Arwin, ride in a canoe for the first time with his friend, Peter Lindemann.

“I never thought I would see my son in a canoe with a friend,” she said. “This is just awesome.”

New Friends already established chapters in the Kettle Moraine area and in St. Croix, Minn. Fond du Lac opened a group last month and a Sheboygan chapter will open in September.

From four families to 54

Jackie Mayer, director of New Friends, never imagined how large the organization would grow.

All she wanted was a place for children with IDD to play in a non-judgmental environment and parents to watch their child be accepted by their peers. She found it difficult for her family to attend social events with her son, Dillon, who has autism and Fragile X syndrome, so she went to Lutheran High School and asked for volunteers.

The group is part of Jesus Cares Ministries, a national outreach to people with IDD. Jesus Cares Ministries is run through the Lutheran Home Association, which serves the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

The first meeting had only four families but now boasts 54, though not all attend every meeting. Mayer said a typical gathering has 10 families and 15 volunteers. The group is consistently growing, averaging a new family each month.

“Annie knows when she goes to New Friends that there is absolute acceptance for who she is,” said Colleen Vander Linden, mother of 18-year-old, Annie, who joined New Friends more than two years ago.

Some of the friends expand their relationships by socializing outside of meetings. This was the case for Lutheran student Amanda Diel and Taryn Benthein who joined the Miracle League together.

‘Walk for Friendship’

Next month’s meeting, planned by Doro and Diel, will be a one-mile “Walk for Friendship” at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Cleveland’s VFW, 1221 Park Lane. After the walk, there will be a small raffle, carnival games, beach volleyball, a bean bag toss, face painting, pizza, popcorn and more.

The event is open to the public, though the New Friends groups from Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Kettle Moraine received special invitations. This is because Mayer hopes the walk will become an annual event and serve as a meeting point for all nearby chapters to come together.

There is no registration fee, though donations are accepted. All proceeds will cover operational costs for the Manitowoc chapter of New Friends.

In the future, Mayer would like to see a permanent center open every day so friends can meet up whenever they wish.

“Why wait until next month to reconnect?” she asked.

A more long-term goal for Mayer: she dreams of having New Friends chapters nationwide.

She finished, “People with IDD and their families should be no more than an hour radius from a New Friends location.”

For information about volunteering or donating, contact Mayer at (920) 860-0639 or at jnmayer@tlha.org.